Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This first UK Paediatric Bioethics and Law book provides a contemporary review of ethical issues and relevant law for child-health professionals, and anyone interested in the complex, diverse, and rewarding day-to-day delivery of paediatric healthcare. Whilst the legal norms are necessarily those of the UK, the ethical deliberations are generic. The chapter authors, to whom we are most grateful, include ethicists and moral philosophers, experienced parents, academic lawyers, barristers and judges, and clinicians who have worked with children, parents, and clinical teams through challenging situations. Groundbreaking research is providing medicines, treatments, and operative interventions for previously fatal conditions, and there is rapidly expanding use of intensive care, organ support, and transplant which benefits many children. However, there are also increasing numbers of children with complex health needs who have not been cured, and who require lifelong support leading to many ethical issues. Attempts at cure in rare diseases or in the absence of curative options continue, but need novel and innovative therapies, rather than randomised controlled trials. Furthermore, the social determinants of children’s welfare, increasing war and migration and air quality and climate change are affecting many children and families, whether healthy or with illness. All these issues lead to multiple ethical and occasionally legal issues for paediatricians, child health professionals and all who look after children; as well as for children and their families—in this book we provide a core grounding in these bioethical and legal issues throughout the many areas of paediatric practice.</jats:p>